Multi-facility reservation scheduling system

ABSTRACT

A computer-implemented method of scheduling a reservation at a plurality of facilities providing a plurality of services, comprising receiving a packet of client information from a client ( 20 ), the client information including personal data, service data, client reservation preference data, and payment data; comparing the service data to a set of service constraints in order to determine any limitations on the scheduling of the reservation; inputting the client information into a scheduling server ( 80 ); verifying the client information; generating a predetermined number of reservation candidates based upon an analysis of the client information and the reservation scheduling limitations; communicating the reservation candidates to the client ( 20 ); generating a reservation based upon the client&#39;s selection of one of the reservation candidates; generating reservation information related to the reservation, the reservation information including the client information, the service constraints, a reservation date, a reservation time, the identity of the available facility ( 35 ), ( 45 ), ( 55 ), and the resources to be utilized; reporting at least a portion of the reservation information to the client and all of the client information to the available facility ( 35 ), ( 45 ), ( 55 ); and confirming the reservation in the scheduling server ( 80 ). A data processing system ( 10 ) for scheduling a reservation from among a plurality of facilities is also disclosed.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

[0001] This application is a continuation in part of U.S. applicationSer. No. 09/311,095, filed on May 13, 1999, the contents of which areincorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF INVENTION

[0002] The present invention relates generally to scheduling systems,and more particularly, the present invention relates to a multi-facilityreservation scheduling system whose implementation and manipulation arehandled over global, wide-area, or local-area communications networks.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] In many service-related industries, there exists a need toaccommodate the schedules of clients who wish to utilize a plurality ofservices possibly at a multitude of facilities. Hotel clients oftenchoose a hotel based on the amenities that are provided on site or inthe vicinity of the hotel. A client may for example desire a suite orthat the hotel have a pool. Similarly in the convention industry,different facilities can provide a vast array of services. For example,a client may wish to schedule a convention site based upon the amount ofspace it has available or its location or possibly on the conventionsite's ability to accommodate audiovisual presentations. Current methodsof scheduling this procedure require a phone conversation with ascheduler at the facility that will provide the service. Since theservice could potentially be performed at a variety of sites, thecurrent method could require numerous attempts to contact a variety offacilities before scheduling a reservation at a facility which has theresources (i.e., room or conference room availability) necessary toprovide the service at a time which accommodates the client's schedulingneeds. Given the jumbling of locations, services offered at eachlocation, and variables such as room availability or client preferences,scheduling each location's resources for maximum effectiveness can proveto be burdensome, particularly given the vast amount of data associatedwith each client's reservation.

[0004] Previous attempts have been made to provide systems through whichthe scheduling of remote locations may be achieved. For example, U.S.Pat. No. 5,848,403 to Gabriner et al (the '403 patent) describes agenetic algorithm scheduling system which includes a system of encodingand testing hard constraint information. The general scheduling systemhas information about the scheduling problem, in the form of theresources available for performing tasks, a description of the tasks tobe performed, and information about the problem domain.

[0005] U.S. Pat. No. 5,842,173 to Strum et al. (the '173 patent)describes a computer-based surgical services management system forcommunicating between sites of a surgical services facility. The systemincludes repeaters, remote access via modems, data archives, reactiveand predictive scheduling, analysis, data maintenance, telephonecommunications. U.S. Pat. No. 5,748,907 to Crane (the '907 patent)describes a real-time medical facility management system. U.S. Pat. No.5,469,353 to Pinsky et al. (the '353 patent) describes a network forproviding medical interpretations of radiological images on a nationalor regional basis. U.S. Pat. No. 5,321,605 to Chapman et al. (the '605patent) describes a system for managing process flow information relatedto a multiplicity of interrelated organizational tasks.

[0006] U.S. Pat. No. 5,289,531 to Levine (the '531 patent) describes anelectronic rescheduler for promptly and efficiently reschedulingappointments in a two-part procedure. The first step includes theselection of one or more time periods during which a new appointmentwould be desired, and in the second step a new appointment is chosenfrom the selected time periods. The system is telephonically-driven.U.S. Pat. No. 5,301,105 to Cummings, Jr. (the '105 patent) describes ahealth care management system. U.S. Pat. No. 5,113,380 to Levine (the'380 patent) describes an electronic rescheduler. U.S. Pat. No.5,065,315 to Garcia (the '315 patent) describes a hospital computerizedsystem for entering information pertinent to a patient's stay in thehospital. U.S. Pat. No. 4,937,743 to Rassman et al (the '743 patent)describes a method and system for the prospective scheduling, monitoringand management of resources using a computer system.

[0007] None of the foregoing systems, each of which is incorporatedherein by reference, provides a system which utilizes technologyoffering access to each of the remote locations via a globalcommunications network such as the Internet.

[0008] None of the foregoing systems provides an efficient system formaking a reservation from multiple facilities, each of which facilitiesincludes multiple resources for providing a variety of client services,such as convention space availability, room availability, spa facilitiesand a pool.

[0009] Consequently, there is a need in the art for a computerimplemented multi-facility scheduling system which enables a remotescheduler to arrange client reservations for a variety of services to beprovided at a variety of facilities in an efficient, cost-effectivemanner.

[0010] There is a further need in the art for a multi-facilityscheduling system to permit a client, or a person acting on the client'sbehalf, to obtain a variety of scheduling options in order toeffectively and efficiently schedule reservations available at a varietyof locations.

[0011] There is a further need in the art for a multi-facilityscheduling system which can also be manipulated on afacility-by-facility basis, with interaction among the variousfacilities via an electronic communications mechanism such as, forexample, the global communications network known as the Internet.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0012] The present invention solves significant problems in the art byproviding a computer-implemented system for scheduling reservations at aplurality of facilities that fall within client defined parameters.

[0013] Generally described, the present invention provides acomputer-implemented method of scheduling a reservation at a pluralityof facilities providing a plurality of services, comprising: receiving apacket of client information from a client, the client informationincluding personal data, service data, client reservation preferencedata, and payment data; comparing the service data to a set of serviceconstraints in order to determine any limitations on the scheduling ofthe reservation; inputting the client information into a schedulingserver; verifying the client information; generating a predeterminednumber of reservation candidates based upon an analysis of the clientinformation and the reservation scheduling limitations; communicatingthe reservation candidates to the client; generating a reservation basedupon the client's selection of one of the reservation candidates;generating reservation information related to the reservation, thereservation information including the client information, the serviceconstraints, a reservation date, a reservation time, the identity of theavailable facility, and the resources to be utilized; reporting at leasta portion of the reservation information to the client and all of theclient information to the available facility; and confirming thereservation in the scheduling server.

[0014] In a preferred embodiment, the present invention also comprises adata processing system for scheduling a reservation at a plurality offacilities providing a plurality of services, comprising a receiver forreceiving a packet of client information from a client, the clientinformation including personal data, service data, client reservationpreference data, and payment data; a constraint determiner for comparingthe service data to a set of service constraints in order to determineany limitations on the scheduling of the reservation; an inputter forinputting the client information into a scheduling server; a verifierfor verifying the client information; a candidate generator forgenerating a predetermined number of reservation candidates based uponan analysis of the client information and the reservation schedulinglimitations; a candidate communicator for communicating the reservationcandidates to the client; a reservation generator for generating areservation based upon the client's selection of one of the reservationcandidates; a reservation information generator for generatingreservation information related to the reservation, the reservationinformation including the client information, the service constraints, areservation date, a reservation time, the identity of the availablefacility, and the resources to be utilized; a reservation informationreporter for reporting at least a portion of the reservation informationto the client and all of the client information to the availablefacility; and a reservation confirmer for confirming the reservation inthe scheduling server.

[0015] In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, the methodfurther includes the step of allowing reservations to be rescheduled orcanceled, and the data processing system includes a reservation modifierfor rescheduling or canceling reservations.

[0016] In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, the stepof receiving the packet of client information is accomplished via theInternet, a local area network, or a wide area network.

[0017] Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to providea computer-implemented method of scheduling a reservation at a pluralityof facilities providing a plurality of services.

[0018] It is another object of the present invention to provide a dataprocessing system for scheduling a reservation at a plurality offacilities providing a plurality of services.

[0019] These and other objects, features, and advantages of the presentinvention will become apparent upon reading the following specificationwhen taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0020]FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the relationshipbetween the clients, the organizations, and the organizations'facilitiesof the scheduling system of the present invention.

[0021]FIG. 2 is an illustration of the flow of information throughoutthe scheduling system of the present invention, from the initial contactby a client or client's representative through the transmission ofreservation information for integration into an application program suchas a billing program.

[0022]FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating the method of the preferredembodiment of the present invention.

[0023]FIGS. 4A and 4B are a flow chart illustrating the steps requiredby a user to book a hotel reservation using the method of the presentinvention.

[0024]FIGS. 5A and 5B are a flow chart illustrating the steps requiredby a user to book a convention using the method of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0025] Referring initially to FIGS. 1-5 of the drawings, in which likenumerals indicate like elements throughout the several views, in apreferred embodiment the scheduling system 10 of the present inventionallows a client 20 to contact, via computer implementation, any one ofan organization's 30, 40, 50 multiple facilities 35, 45, 55 to schedulea reservation. A facility is a physical site, such as a hotel, motel, orconvention center. Referring to FIG. 2, a client 20 may either be theclient 21 or the client's representative 22, such as in the case of abooking agent seeking a specific type of facility for a customer.

[0026] An organization 30, 40, 50 is the service provider whose multiplefacilities 35, 45, 55 are accessible using the computer-implementedscheduling system 10 of the present invention. Each organization 30, 40,50 may group its facilities 35, 45, 55, using remote scheduling servers38, 48, 58, so as to permit access to each facility's 35, 45, 55schedules. For instance, facility 35 a is independently connected to ascheduling server 38 a, while facilities 35 b, 35 c, and 35 d arecollectively connected to a scheduling server 38 b. The distinctionbetween these types of groupings is that the server 38 a connected tofacility 35 a can only access scheduling information for facility 35 a,while the server 38 b connected to facilities 35 b, 35 c, 35 d canaccess all three of these facilities'scheduling information. Thescheduling information maintained on the various servers 38, 48, 58 isaccessible via an electronic communications link 70 between the serversand, for example, a global communications network such as the Internet.

[0027] Access to each organization's 30, 40, 50 collective schedulinginformation begins at the scheduling system's 10 central scheduleservers 80. When the client 20 wishes to schedule a reservation, theclient 20 connects to the scheduling system 10 by connecting to one ofthe central schedule servers 80 via the electronic transmissionmechanism 70, which network may take the form of the Internet, a localarea network (LAN), wide area network (WAN) or even a telephone call.The client 20, by entering a predetermined access code, is able toaccess an organization's facilities. Once the client 20 accesses aspecific organization, the scheduling system 10 prompts the client 20 toprovide client information for the purpose of scheduling a reservation.

[0028] Client information includes personal data about the client, suchas the client's name, address, telephone number, and the like; servicedata, such as the space requirements, room requirements and facilitycapability stipulations; payment data, such as the client's credit cardinformation;

[0029] and client reservation preference data, such as the preferreddate, time, and specific location where the client would like toschedule a reservation. The scheduling system confirms the informationreceived from the client with the client and verifies certain of theinformation, such as for instance the client's payment information, (asdepicted in FIG. 2 at reference number 160), by communicating, via meansfamiliar to those of ordinary skill in the relevant art, with sources ofsuch information, such as the credit card company.

[0030] Once the scheduling system 10 receives the packet of clientinformation from the client 20, it compares the service data to anexisting set of service constraints in order to determine anyconstraints on the scheduling of a reservation for the client. Forinstance, if a client 20 wishes to schedule a conference that requiresan auditorium, facilities without an auditorium will be excluded orsegregated from the candidate list.

[0031] Once the central scheduling server 80 generates the reservationscheduling limitations, the limitations and the client reservationpreferences are utilized in order to generate a predetermined number ofreservation candidates. The central scheduling server 80 communicatesthe requests to the remote schedule servers 38, 48, 58, which actuallygenerate the candidates and pass them back to the central server 80.Each remote schedule server 38, 48, 58 generates reservation candidateusing data from the particular facilities 35, 45, 55 to which eachremote server 38, 48, 58 has access. Thus, the scheduling server 80generates the reservation candidates by communicating with theorganization's remote schedule servers 38, 48, 58 which in turncommunicate with the organization's facilities 35, 45, 55, to determinewhich of the facilities are available to provide the requisite servicesat the preferred date and time. The availability and downtime of thefacility and resources is considered during the scheduling process. Theoperating hours of the facility, rooms and equipment, and the workinghours of the staff contribute to the determination of availability. Ascheduling restriction at a particular date and time, such as preventivemaintenance or a staff meeting, is defined as downtime. Availabilitymasks are specified to define when an entity is available. Anavailability mask consists of the start time, frequency, day of week,and duration. For example, for a facility with operating hours of 9 amto 7 pm Monday through Friday, and 9 am to 12 pm on Saturday, a mask iscreated for each weekday beginning at 9 am for 10 hours, and one forSaturday beginning at 9 am for 3 hours. A duration is defined for eachreservation. Therefore, the scheduling process considers the followingissues when attempting to schedule a reservation:

[0032] Resources required by the client

[0033] Availability masks defined for the facility

[0034] Availability masks defined for the resources required byprocedures in the schedule group

[0035] Existing reservations for the resources required by the client

[0036] Client's preferred reservation time and place

[0037] The facilities 35, 45, 55 communicate their availability back tothe central scheduling server 80 via their respective remote scheduleservers 38, 48, 58. The scheduling server 80 then communicates thevarious reservation candidates directly to the client 20. If the client20 wishes to select one of the reservation candidates, the client 20 sonotifies the scheduling server 80. If the client does not want to selectany of the reservation candidates, an alternative set of reservationcandidates is generated in the same manner as the initial set ofcandidates. Upon receipt of the client's notification as to whichreservation candidate the client wishes to select, the scheduling server80 communicates the notification to the selected facility 35, 45 55, viathe facility's remote schedule server. The schedule server 38, 48, 58.The scheduling system 10 then generates information related to theselected reservation, including the client information, the serviceconstraints, the reservation date and time, the facility at which thereservation will occur, and the specific resources to be utilized at thefacility during the reservation. Resources include the specific room tobe utilized for the reservation, along with the staff and equipmentrequired to fulfill the reservation. Staff denotes the technical,professional, or administrative staff whom are represented within thefacility. Equipment denotes the types of machinery or apparatus locatedwithin the facility. The scheduling system 10 then reports all of thereservation information to the facility 35, 45, 55 at which the servicewill be performed, and a portion of this information—the clientinformation, the reservation date and time, and the facility'sidentity—to the client 20, and confirms the reservation with thefacility 35, 45, 55 at which the reservation is scheduled to occur. Inconnection with the scheduling of the reservation, a unique reservationnumber is transmitted to both the client 20 and the facility 35, 45, 55at which the reservation is scheduled.

[0038] The scheduling system 10 of the present invention also includesthe capability of handling the rescheduling or canceling ofpreviously-scheduled reservations. A client 20 may connect to thescheduling server 80 via the method discussed above and, once connected,may notify the scheduling server 80 of his reservation number, at whichtime the scheduling server 80 will locate the reservation informationgenerated when the reservation was scheduled. Once the reservationinformation is retrieved, the scheduling server 80 will provide theclient 20 with options regarding the reservation, including withoutlimitation confirmation, cancellation, and modification. If the client20 wishes to cancel the reservation, the scheduling server 80 willnotify the facility 35, 45, 55 at which the reservation is scheduled tooccur, in order that the facility 35, 45, 55 can remove whateverrestrictions were placed upon it, in terms of resources, by thescheduling of the reservation, thus freeing up those resources for adifferent client's use. Should the client 20 wish to reschedule thereservation, the scheduling server 80 will obtain from the client 20 anew set of client reservation preference data and will, in the samemanner described above, generate a new set of reservation candidatesfrom which the client 20 may select in order to reschedule hisreservation.

[0039] As illustrated in FIG. 2, the scheduling system 10 of the presentinvention is also capable of allocating facilities and resources toclients who seek and/or receive services without a reservation, i.e.,walk-in clients 23, and of reallocating facilities and resources insituations where clients with scheduled reservations to not appear fortheir reservations without canceling their reservations. When suchsituations occur, personnel at the facility 35, 45, 55 affected by thewalk-in or no-show enter into the facility's remote schedule server 38,48, 58 appropriate information pertaining to the resources encumbered(in the case of a walk-in) or available (in the case of a no-show), andthis information is in turn transmitted via the electronicscommunications network 70 to the central scheduling server 80.

[0040] Looking at FIG. 2, once the reservation is generated andconfirmed with the client 20, the reservation information can also bemade available for export to an external system 90, such as a billingprogram. For example, once the reservation is generated, the clientinformation, including payment information, can be integrated into anorganization's billing program so that the client 20 is appropriatelybilled for the services rendered at the facility 35, 45, 55 at the timeof the reservation.

[0041]FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a typical operation of thescheduling system of the present invention. In steps 305-315, thereservation candidates are generated. Once steps 305, 310, 312, and 315occur, and the system generates a set of reservation candidates, steps320, 325, and 330 repeatedly determine if the client has selected areservation candidate. In step 335, once the client selects areservation candidate, the reservation information is generated, and instep 340, the reservation information is transmitted, as discussedabove, to the client and facility. In step 350, the reservationinformation is transmitted to the external system 90 for integrationinto another application.

[0042] In an alternative embodiment of the scheduling system of thepresent invention, the client 20 can access multiple organizations30,40, 50 for the purpose of scheduling reservations at any of themultiple organizations'multiple facilities 35, 45, 55. For example, oneorganization 30 may consist of 7 facilities and a second organization 40may consist of 3 different facilities. Under the alternative embodimentof the present invention, the client 20, either directly 21 or throughhis representative 22, may access scheduling information from bothorganizations and therefore schedule a reservation based upon theavailability of up to ten (10) different facilities. Under such ascenario, the various organizations' 30, 40, 50 scheduling informationis compiled in a consolidation server 60.

[0043]FIGS. 4A and 4B are a flow chart illustrating the steps requiredby a user to book a hotel reservation using the method of the presentinvention. In a preferred embodiment, interaction between the user andthe system implementing the method is accomplished via the Internet, alocal area network, or a wide area network.

[0044] In step 402, the user inputs preliminary search criteria such asthe city and state where the hotel reservation is needed, and thearrival and departure dates to the hotel. Next, in step 404, the userinputs the search method the user is interested in. Different searchmethods available can include, without limitation, searching for a hotelnear an address, a hotel near an airport or a hotel near a point ofinterest such as a local tourist attraction. Search options relevant tothe selected search method can then be selected in step 406 to furtherrefine the search query. Once the query has been fully specified, it istested for ambiguities in step 408 to ensure that an accurate search isperformed. A typical ambiguity which can be discovered during this checkincludes, for example, multiple cities that match the name entered bythe user. If an ambiguity is identified, in step 410 the user ispresented with a list of the possible choices which can resolve theambiguity.

[0045] Once the search query has been finalized and tested, in step 412the user is presented with a list of hotels which match the searchcriteria. The user may optionally request additional information on oneor more of the displayed facilities (414). If the choices displayed tothe user are unacceptable, or if no choices are shown because there areno hotels matching the search criteria, the user may elect to run a newsearch (416). Alternatively, the user may select one of the hotels inthe displayed list (418).

[0046] Once a user has selected a hotel matching the search criteria,the user is presented with a second list containing the available roomtypes at the selected facility meeting the search criteria (420). Ifnone of the room choices are acceptable, the user may elect, in step 422to return to the hotel list and possibly select a new hotel or run a newsearch. If the user finds the room choices acceptable, the user can thenselect one of the room choices shown (424) and will then be shown thebooking policies for the particular room. The policies include suchinformation as, advance reservation requirements, cancellationdeadlines, and cancellation charges. If these policies are acceptable tothe user she can proceed with the booking of the room (428).Alternatively, if the booking policy does not meet the user's approval,the user can elect to be returned to the hotel list and possibly selecta new hotel or run a new search.

[0047] If the user elects to proceed with the reservation, the user willbe requested to log into the system by providing a user ID and password(430). It is envisioned in this example that the user will haveregistered previously and will have provided log in information duringregistration. Once logged in, the user can select a payment method, suchas a credit card, which has been previously provided duringregistration, or can enter new payment instructions (432). Once thepayment information has been entered, the user is presented with adisplay (434) of the reservation which is about to be booked and isasked to confirm that all, of the information displayed is correct(436). If the reservation information is confirmed by the user, thereservation is booked (438) and a final display is shown withreservation confirmation information (440). If no confirmation isreceived from the user, the process is terminated without booking areservation.

[0048]FIGS. 5A and 5B are a flow chart illustrating the steps requiredby a user to book a convention reservation using the method of thepresent invention. In a preferred embodiment, interaction between theuser and the system implementing the method is accomplished via theInternet, a local area network, or a wide area network.

[0049] In step 502, the user inputs preliminary search criteria such asthe city and state where the convention is to be held, and the start andend dates of the convention. Next, in step 504, the user inputs thesearch method the user is interested in. Different search methodsavailable can include, without limitation, searching for a venue near anaddress, a venue near an airport or a venue near a point of interestsuch as an attraction relevant to attendees of the convention. Searchoptions relevant to the selected search method can then be selected instep 506 to further refine the search query. Options of particularrelevance to a user booking a convention include, without limitation,minimum and maximum size of rooms available at the venue, availabilityof hotel rooms in the vicinity of the venue, price range, servicesavailable to convention organizers, and the like. Once the query hasbeen fully specified, it is tested for ambiguities in step 508 to ensurethat an accurate search is performed. A typical ambiguity which can bediscovered during this check includes, for example, multiple cities thatmatch the name entered by the user. If an ambiguity is identified, instep 510 the user is presented with a list of the possible choices whichcan resolve the ambiguity.

[0050] Once the search query has been finalized and tested, in step 512the user is presented with a list of venues which match the searchcriteria. The user may optionally request additional information on oneor more of the displayed venues (514). If the choices displayed to theuser are unacceptable, or if no choices are shown because there are novenues matching the search criteria, the user may elect to run a newsearch (516). Alternatively, the user may select one of the venues inthe displayed list (518).

[0051] Once a user has selected a venue matching the search criteria,the user is presented with a second list containing the availableconference room types at the selected venue meeting the search criteria(520). If none of the conference room choices is acceptable, the usermay elect, in step 522 to return to the venue list and possibly select anew venue or run a new search. If the user finds the conference roomchoices acceptable, the user can then select one of the conference roomchoices shown (524) and will then be shown the booking policies for theparticular conference room and venue. The policies include suchinformation as, advance reservation requirements, cancellationdeadlines, and cancellation charges. If these policies are acceptable tothe user the user can proceed with the booking of the venue (528).Alternatively, if the booking policy does not meet the user's approval,the user can elect to be returned to the venue list and possibly selecta new venue or run a new search.

[0052] If the user elects to proceed with the reservation, the user willbe requested to log into the system by providing a user ID and password(530). It is envisioned in this example that the user will haveregistered previously and will have provided log in information duringregistration. Once logged in, the user can select a payment method, suchas a credit card, which has been previously provided duringregistration, or can enter new payment instructions (532). Once thepayment information has been entered, the user is presented with adisplay (534) of the reservation which is about to be booked and isasked to confirm that all of the information displayed is correct (536).If the reservation information is confirmed by the user, the reservationis booked (538) and a final display is shown with reservationconfirmation information (540). If no confirmation is received from theuser, the process is terminated without booking a reservation.

[0053] Accordingly, it will be understood that the preferred embodimentof the present invention has been disclosed by way of example and thatother modifications and alternations may occur to those skilled in theart without departing from the scope and spirit of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method of scheduling areservation at a plurality of facilities providing a plurality ofservices, comprising: receiving a packet of client information from aclient, said client information including personal data, service data,client reservation preference data, and payment data; comparing saidservice data to a set of service constraints in order to determine anylimitations on the scheduling of said reservation; inputting said clientinformation into a scheduling server; verifying said client information;generating a predetermined number of reservation candidates based uponan analysis of said client information and said reservation schedulinglimitations; communicating said reservation candidates to said client;generating a reservation based upon said client's selection of one ofsaid reservation candidates; generating reservation information relatedto said reservation, said reservation information including said clientinformation, said service constraints, a reservation date, a reservationtime, the identity of the available facility, and the resources to beutilized; reporting at least a portion of said reservation informationto said client and all of said client information to said availablefacility; and confirming said reservation in said scheduling server. 2.The computer-implemented method of scheduling a reservation of claim 1wherein said facilities are comprised of at least two facilitiesselected from the group consisting of hotels, motels, arenas, stadiums,convention halls, convention centers, exhibit centers, and multi-purposefacilities.